THE first thing that
strikes one about tall and statuesque Manveen Sandhu, Principal of
Springdale School, Amritsar, is her involvement with the heritage and
history of Punjab. Associated with Spic Macay for more than 30 years,
she wants to put heritage on the radar of school and college students.
But that too takes a backseat when it comes to her preoccupation with
Moran, a dancing girl who Maharaja Ranjit Singh married in 1802.

When Manveen’s play
‘Moran Sarkar’, directed by Kewal Dhaliwal, with a cast from both
Indian and Pakistani Punjab, was staged in Amritsar recently, the
shadowy presence of the dancing girl in the maharaja’s life had
finally found form.

It was Dhaliwal who
suggested Manveen write a play seeing the amount of information she
had gleaned, while she herself was keen to do a historical novel on
Moran. "I was impressed by the spirit of the woman who had
immense dignity. A rare combination of intelligence and beauty, she
was much ahead of her times."

Manveen felt Moran
deserved "a fair representation". She can go on for hours
narrating incidents about Moran’s life based on her research from
original Persian sources, thanks to her father who helped her to
translate them.

Manveen, the author of Maharaja
Ranjit Singh: Personalitas Extraordinaire, says: "The
character of Moran played hide and seek with me while I was
researching my book on the maharaja." Manveen got the feeling
that here was a woman who was seeking her rightful place in history
when she accompanied her son for photographic documentation of the
area where Pul Kanjari is located. Pul Kanjari (or Pul Tawaif) is
being conserved for inclusion into the heritage circuit for tourists
who visit the Wagah border. Since it was difficult for Moran and the
maharaja to meet in Lahore or Amritsar due to the opposition to their
relationship, their rendezvous shifted to a beautiful Baradari
situated between Amritsar and Lahore, near Moran’s village,
Makhanpur.

A miniature painting of Maharani Moran

The bridge got its name,
according to a popular story, from an incident when Moran was coming
to meet the maharaja and she lost her slipper in the Hansali canal.
When she came barefoot and complained, the king promptly got a bridge
constructed and it was named after the dancing girl. A dancing girl is
called kanjari in Punjabi (and it is almost an abuse).

"This derogatory
term in reality is a mutation of kanchani which in Persian
means dipped in gold and fully blossomed. I feel it is also insulting
to a woman who was not only learned, a great philanthropist and a true
companion to the king."

Through his marriage to
Moran, the maharaja also wanted to uplift the community of tawaifs
who were social outcasts. Marriage for social integration is often
looked down upon because of class and caste factors, unlike a
matrimonial alliance for the expansion of the kingdom for political
reasons, which is between social equals.

Moran won her way into
his heart when Ranjit Singh was only 21 because she was unlike any
woman he had known. She accompanied him when he went riding. He
married Moran against the wishes of the entire community and despite
the conditions that were laid down by Moran’s father and the head of
her community Mian Samdu. The community was rehabilitated in
Sharifpura, near Amritsar.

Moran and the maharaja
went to Hardwar for a dip in the Ganga after their marriage in 1802.
The marriage incurred the wrath of the entire Khalsa Panth and Ranjit
Singh was called to the Akal Takht for retribution. He was proclaimed
guilty and condemned to public flogging. He bowed before the Akal
Takht and accepted the punishment. He was exempted with one kora and a
fine.

He never minted a coin
in his own name but he struck one in Moran’s name. She became known
as Moran Sarkar and became a window to the common people who often
brought their problems to her.

There is also a masjid
in Moran’s name in Lahore that was renamed from Masjid-e-Tawaif to
Masjid Moran 10 years back. Manveen wishes Pul Kanjari, too, should be
renamed as Pul Moran.

Deeply spiritual, Moran
had a spiritual guide called Mian Jaan Mohammad of Laverian, who told
her that a madrasa would benefit more people than a masjid. Manveen
describes how Moran was instrumental in setting up a school for
Persian and Arabic studies for students who would be spared the
trouble of travelling all the way to Persia. Moran was quite capable
of distancing herself from the material world which she did. When
palace intrigues and machinations intensified, Moran moved away to a
jagir in Pathankot. Twenty years later, the maharaja still felt there
was no one quite like Moran.

Inputs provided by Fakir
Saifuddin, the director of Fakir Khana museum, Lahore, and scores of
previously unreferred to accounts in Persian helped Manveen’s
research for ‘Moran Sarkar’as did Zafar Namah e-Ranjit
Singh by Diwan Amarnath. The cross-border cast could get into the
spirit of the script and identify with the story. Manveen feels it is
rare for a director to respect the sentiments as well as sensibility
of the writer and she gives full marks to Dhaliwal for doing that.